wingsoffirefanonfandomcom-20200229-history
Countdown to Halloween Short Story the Second
WARNING: DO NOT READ UNTIL OCTOBER 28 This is a short story written by FourFlames for the four-day Halloween Countdown. Enjoy! Chapter the First The chains wriggled. First they tensed and then seemed to try to throw themselves off, and then smoothly just slid down the dragon like glass. The dragon looked up, his eyes mad with thirst. His claws were steepled on the ground; he fiddled with the handcuffs, which had broken off. Then, slowly, he rose to his feet, his long legs carrying his head to the ceiling. His eyes zapped from normal to red, and then back again. Then he was gone. Chapter the Second Clay stared at the piece of stationery blankly. "Are you sure that's what it says?" "What, you can't read?" Starflight shrugged. "He read the history scrolls under the mountain just fine." "But never fancy script like this!" protested Clay. "Well, look here, it says 'The dragonets are courteously invited to a dinner with Admiral Reuben of the Skywings.' I don't know who the heck that is but he sounds really important," pointed out Tsunami. "We should probably go." "Hmmmm..." thought Clay. "I don't know, didn't the Skywings want to kill us?" "That was during the war. Everyone wants to kill everyone in a war." "Hmmmm..." Clay said again. "Anyways," Tsunami argued, waving her talons around bossily. "We're going and that's that." Chapter the Third The beautifully polished wooden doors loomed above the dragonets, huge against the ominous, dark stone mansion. "Are you sure... is this really necessary?" Sunny asked as Tsunami pushed them open with a creak. "Of course I am! The invitation says '4983, Diamond Spray Way.'" Starflight fidgeted in the corner, glad he was blind. "Is it really that scary?" he asked, turning to Fatespeaker nervously. "The scrolls say Admiral Reuben is really rich. His home shouldn't be terrifying." "It's fine," she assured him. "It's just--" she looked around. The trees were all black and twisted. "-- really dark here." "Maybe he can't afford lawn care," suggested Clay, following Fatespeaker's gaze. "Rich," Starflight reminded him. Tsunami rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, stop being scared little hatchlings, we're almost eight now!" "Hello?" said a gruff voice. A neatly groomed Skywing stepped out into the doorway. "Who's there?" "Oh. Just your guests," Tsunami shrugged. "We almost thought we had the wrong house." "Good riddance! Wrong house, what a thing to say! Well don't just stand there outside!" huffed the Skywing, his monocle trembling on his face. "Come in! Come in!" Chapter the Fourth The room was massive. A gargantuan gold chandelier was hanging from the ceiling, and banners and tapestries draped everywhere. In the center of the foyer was an extremely long dining table that was filled with platters. "Wow, what a big house," murmured Tsunami, staring at the tapestries. "Oh. I inherited this house from my grandfather. I also inherited his profession as well. Unfortunately, it was rather--" he gave the walls a creepy look, and his tone changed. "--dreary." "Food!" gasped Clay, rushing over to the trays on the dining table. "I'm, uhh, I'm not sure you want to have that platter," said the Skywing uneasily, watching Clay approach the plate. "It's not the best fruit." "Sure I do," shrugged Clay, reaching his talon to the tray, but Admital Reuben slapped his arm. "Young Mudwing, I'm really sure you don't want to do that." He shifted his weight from foot to foot. "I'm quite positive, 100% sure that you don't want that platter." Clay's brows furrowed. He promptly slid his talon to the lid and flew his claws into the air, tossing the platter on the ground. A rather large lime-colored Rainwing blinked up at them. Chapter the Fifth Clay jumped backwards as the Rainwing fluttered up into the air frantically, looking down at the platter it had just been sitting in. It flew around in circles and then landed, all in a panic, on the chandelier. "Were you going to eat her?!" Sunny screamed, jumping across the room in terror. "No, of course not," the Admiral growled, shaking his head. "Yes! Yes he was!" the Rainwing screamed. Her wings looked a little too wispy, and her body looked almost transparent. "Uhhh... what happened to you?" Admiral Reuben reared up before she had a chance to reply. "Alright, that's enough out of all of you!" he hissed, almost sounding demonic. "No more little mind games for any of you!" "What are you talking about?" Starflight answered, his voice edged in panic. "You don't get to ask any more questions, little Nightwing," spat the Admiral. "Stay right where you are! Every single one of you!" Clay looked on in terror as the Admiral's tongue began to slither all the way down to his toes. Chapter the Sixth Tsunami yelped and froze where she was. "Ha," breathed the Skywing, who was now floating in the air without even having to flap his wings. "Not so brave anymore, are you, little dragonets?" Clay turned to look at the Rainwing. She was tapping all of the other platters solemnly. A tentacle lashed out from where Reuben's arms should have been. He grabbed Clay by the neck and forced him to stare at him. "Oh, poor, poor little dragonets," he hissed. "There's nobody to protect you, no Talons of Peace or armies swooping out of the sky." He swiveled all eight of his tentacles around to face them. They were all red... highlighted by the crazy glow of his insane scarlet eyes. "And now I'm going to eat your soul." Chapter the Seventh Clay had no idea what was going on. He saw crimson droplets specking the walls, and what appeared to be a floating candelabra, which didn't really make sense, and forks and knives flying out of kitchen drawers all by themselves. "Uhh, Starflight," Clay whimpered, surrounded on all sides by forks and knives. "I think you forgot to tell me he's a cannibalistic animus." "Nobody knew," smirked Reuben, with sharp, daggerlike, crooked teeth sticking up like needles from his lower jaws. "Except for these Specterwings, these poor little victims. I just couldn't ignore the delicious taste of Rainwing bodies." Sunny screamed and clutched Clay. "They begged me so badly," continued the insane Skywing. "They just couldn't possibly die yet, so I made them ghosts. And now they'll live here, forever, watching other dragons' souls get eaten, and see the agonizing pain of their loved ones." Clay raced for the front door, with Sunny flying behind him, grabbing onto his back as best she could. The front doors slammed and locked from the outside. Clay banged on the doors with his fists. "Oh! Were you going somewhere?" hissed Reuben, hovering over Clay's head. "You know, I was really hoping I wouldn't have to do this. Singling a dragon out-- ooo, let's see, we have two this time-- is hardly fair. If you want to live, you could probably compete in the Specter Games. If you make it, there's a 100% chance that you'll become a Specterwing and not have your soul eaten, and the other option, which you only have a 25% chance of, is getting your body and soul back, and never returning to my mansion again." Clay considered that. "How about all of my friends compete." "Sure," smiled the Skywing wickedly. "But there's a 100% chance that they'll all die." Chapter the Eighth Clay found himself thrown into a vortex and landing head-first into a crazy-colored, swirly pit. Reuben himself glided up to a towering black throne with an even more black portal swirling behind it. He let out a vicious phantom-like snarl and Clay swirled down into an even lower pit below the throne. Two stands flew up seemingly from the ground on either side to the left and right of Reuben. The rows were filled with sad-looking Specterwings. "Welcome to our hundred-and-seventeenth weekly Specter Games! Today we have some very special competitors," said the Skywing animus, gesturing to Clay, Fatespeaker, Tsunami, Sunny, Starflight, and Glory, who had been quiet this whole time. The crowd let out some unexcited applause and sat back down. Reuben glared at them, then looked back down at the dragonets. "Today's competitors are Clay of the Mudwings, Tsunami of the Seawings, Sunny of the Sandwings, Queen Glory of the Rainwings, and Starflight and Fatespeaker of the Nightwings. They will all be competing to either keep their lives or become a Specterwing and not die." He looked down a list that he had kept close by to his throne. "And, we also have some contestants who are competing to get their bodies back. Without further ado, I give you Gilda of the Rainwings, Weaponforger of the Nightwings, and Comet of the Skywings!" Three terrified Specterwings appeared in the other end of the arena. "Now, for our first test," smirked Reuben. "The test of courage." The arena floor transformed into a pit of fire. There was seemingly nothing but the molten red flames licking up into the sky. Sunny leapt on top of Clay as he leaped above the platform he had been on just seconds ago, already sinking deep into the fire. "Clay!" Tsunami yelled. She couldn't lift off fast enough, and the fire was practically pulling her into it. Clay dove down and grabbed her, trying to fight the fire. If he was born from a blood-red egg... maybe he could protect them from the fire... "What exactly are we supposed to do?" asked Starflight nervously. "Oh, I forgot you've never done the Specter Games before. My bad," laughed Reuben. "Fly into the fire... if you're brave enough." Tsunami was still struggling in the corner. Clay was trying to pull her out the best he could, but the lava was turning into a huge whirlpool beneath her. Her strong tail slapped the lava. She screamed in pain and fell backwards into the whirlpool. Clay lunged for her... but it was too late. Tsunami was gone. Clay looked around the fire pit frantically. Sunny was still clinging to his tail, and Glory was flapping around unhurriedly. Starflight and Fatespeaker were both hovering in the air, talking in hushed voices. Clay watched as Comet, the Skywing, dove down straight towards the lava and wheeled up at the last second, looking as though he had caught something off the surface with his talons. They looked down at their talons and frowned, trying again. Clay stared at the lava. Surely there is something valuable in there that I must retrieve to pass the test... "Starflight! Fatespeaker!" Clay wrapped his wings around Sunny to engulf her in his fireproof scales. "You've been in the Nightwing volcano, haven't you?!" "So have I," pointed out Glory. "Well, maybe if I take Sunny, Starflight and Fatespeaker into the fire to look for something, I'll come back to get you, and we'll all pass." Glory's ruff flared, then settled on her head. "Sure," she said. Chapter the Ninth Clay dove into the lava pit, gritting his teeth hard as the pain passed through his scales. He opened his eyes wide to look for anything useful. All he saw was red... but wait... there was a gleaming white light. He reached his talons out and swiped the whiteness, then shot out of there as fast as he could, practically swimming out of the pool of fire. Coughing hard, Clay surged out of the lava, which lapped at his tail like the ocean. Carefully, he unwrapped his talons in flight and removed a white gem of some sort. Sunny, Starflight and Fatespeaker dove out from under his wings, unscathed. Looking around, Clay noticed that Comet, the Skywing, also had one. "Congratulations, winners," smirked Reuben, snapping his fingers, changing the field of lava into an arena floor, one that looked kind of like the Skywing arena. He wrapped up Glory, Weaponforger, and Gilda in his tentacles and tossed them into his gaping maw. Clay watched in horror as their bodies crunched under the animus' teeth. "Why did you do that to Glory?" "Fool," yawned Reuben. "You can't go back for teammates. And there are only two Fire Stones in the lava. Those who don't find them don't get to live." The Skywing lifted his list back up to his face. "Well.. Comet, since you survived your first round, you get to invite a Specterwing to the field." Clay looked at him hopefully, but was given a cold stare. "That is a move reserved for Specterwings only." Comet looked into the crowd thoughtfully. Practically every dragon was raising their paws, desperately wanting to risk their body back. His bright yellow eyes narrowed. "You," he hissed, pointing to a terrified little gray Seawing. She floated sadly down to the arena field. "Alright then," Reuben declared, slapping his throne. "Time for the test of strength!" Chapter the Tenth Clay stared the Seawing in the face. He didn't want to do this. Not at all. "In one end of the ring, we have Megalodon of the Seawings, competing to get their body back if they successfully aid Comet in regaining his! Will they make it through the arena? Probably not!" Reuben smirked cruelly down at the Seawing. "And in the other end of the arena we have Clay of the Mudwings, competing to keep his body and/or not get his soul eaten! Perhaps he will be the fighter we are looking for today!" The insane Skywing sat down on his towering throne. "As you should know already, the rules are simple. Flying is allowed but if you try to fly away then you get an automatic death and your soul eaten as punishment. Other than that, anything is game. Oh. And you can die. You can get killed by your enemy. And if you do, your soul gets eaten and you lose the Specter Games." Clay winced. That sounded extremely painful. "All right. Claws up, fire ready, fight!" Reuben leapt up and fixed the two dragons in his gaze. Clay looked up. Megalodon was racing right towards him, her lanky body bobbing up and down as she advanced speedily. Her claws were extended and her gills were flared. Clay barely had time to duck before her talons skidded off his back, and she crashed into the ground behind him. Roaring, he whipped around to try to see where she was. He felt hooked claws shred down his face. He limped over to the side on his bad leg and snapped at her arms. He felt his tooth strike deep. Hissing, Megalodon lurched at his face in a decoy bite attack, and then turned around and slapped him with her tail, sending him flying across the arena. He felt really bad, but angry, and shot a blast of fire at her. He watched her tail scorch at the tip as she junped out of the way. She spat at him. Clay lashed his tail in annoyance. This dragon was good, and really deceptive, too. But he wasn't going to die as food for Reuben. He rushed at her and kicked her hard with his good leg. She smashed against the wall. Clay coiled back, feeling guilty. He waited for her to get up, but she didn't. She slumped painfully against the wall, groaning. Clay bent his head closer to the dying Seawing. "I'm sorry," he whispered, and slashed his talons across her neck in a final blow. "Clay is the winner!" howled Reuben, extending his monster sized tongue. A gray mist floated out of the Seawing and curled upward into his mouth. He turned completely black and screamed a deathly noise like a convulsing dragon. Then his tentacles wrapped around thin air and grew longer. He hissed darkly. "I finally have enough power," laughed the animus, growing to the size of Godzilla, a blood-soaked white washing over his scales, "to eat all of the Specterwings I made promises to." Chapter the Eleventh There was chaos in the arena, which was dissolving into a bottomless pit. Specterwings were flying everywhere. Their dim bodies dotted the sky. Reuben's tongue sprang out of his body, transforming into a tentacle itself. It lapped up at the sky and snatched the dragons like mosquitoes. "SOON," bellowed the huge Skywing, who was still growing and growing as he ate other screaming dragons, "YOU SHALL ALL FEEL MY CRUSH!" He looked around as flocks flew above his head. He launched into the sky and snapped at them. Clay looked around for Starflight, Sunny and Fatespeaker, but they were nowhere to be seen. He shuddered and began to cry. Reuben whipped around. His beaming red eyes were fixed on Clay. He stopped lapping at other dragons. The insane Skywing's tongue split into four and grabbed Clay around the waist, heaving him into the sky. His other tongues wrapped around two dark dragons and one odd gold one. Clay's stomach lurched. "Destiny," mocked Reuben, tightening his tongue around the dragonets like a python. "It can be such a wonderful thing... for me." Clay screeched in agony as he was tossed into the air, his wings pinned together by magic. He struggled as he fell downwards into darkness and faded. His conscience slowly began to drip away, and he felt black consume him.... Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Fanon) Category:Content (FourFlames) Category:Fanfictions (Completed)